R&D activity in Basque technology parks represents 35% of the total R&D expenditure in the Basque Country (as made in companies, organisations, private and public agencies, universities, and so on) and 46% of the total R&D expenditure in the business sector. Companies fuel 14% of turnover into R&D.

Bid for technology and growth

The Bizkaia Science and Technology Park was established in 1985, being a pioneer in its kind in the Spanish state. It emerged to diversify industry in the Historical Territory and the Basque Country at large, as well as to encourage research, innovation and development, and to disseminate the results.

Currently, the park, with facilities in Zamudio and Derio, covers 250ha. It lies 2km from Loiu International Airport (Bilbao Airport), 10km from Bilbao and 10km from the campus of the University of the Basque Country in Leioa. It comprises more than 220 companies – some of them areKutxabank, Gamesa, Siemens, Tecnalia and Euskaltel – from various sectors: aerospace, automotive, electronics, energy, environment, R&D, engineering, medical and biomedical, advanced services, general services, IT.

In the past five years, there has been a huge growth in the number of people working at the Bizkaia Science and Technology Park. Today, they amount to 7,700, and they belong to 223 different companies whose total turnover in the last fiscal year amounted to€2,550M.

The park is an ever-changing, ever-growing living organism, housing lots of new business initiatives and innovation projects. In 2014, the park will be home to the largest business incubator for technology companies in the Basque Country. Developed by the Basque Government and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, the incubator will have a 6,000m2 area, divided into 38 modules, laboratories and workshop facilities.

Prestige in Europe

The Bizkaia Science and Technology Park is a renowned facility in Europe. In fact, when the European Commission set up the Advisory Group on SMEs under HORIZON 2020, they took on the park’s Innovation Manager, Marian Ibarrondo, as the only representative of the Spanish state. This Advisory Group was created to take specific measures to increase SME participation in European research and innovation.

What is more, last summer, the EC congratulated the Bizkaia Science and Technology Park on its communication of ZERO-HYTECHPARK, a project under the LIFE+ Programme for the development of fully sustainable technology parks.

The growing interest in the park beyond European borders is reflected in the high number of international visitors coming to get first-hand knowledge of its creation, development and situation, as well as in theBizkaia Park’s presence in such international events as the 1stConference on Science and Technology Parks held in Colombia.